“Smart Classroom” is the term generally used to describe a classroom provided with technological tools such as interconnected servers, laptops, PC's, boards, projectors and the like. In a “Smart Classroom”, a teacher is able to transmit/publish a course's content to the students with the use of such tools, instead of relying on traditional chalk or white boards on which teachers sometimes write.
There are several products on the market addressing the needs of “Smart Classrooms”, such as interactive white boards, conferencing software, etc. Existing products for “Smart Classrooms” are generally directed to schools in developed countries, in which it is sometimes feasible to install dedicated servers within the school and to provide each student with a laptop or desktop computer.
Unfortunately, existing products are not well adapted for schools in developing countries, which could greatly benefit from the concept of “Smart Classrooms”. Indeed, existing software requires a lot of processing capacity which cannot be supported by older computers or by low-cost PCs. In addition, existing solutions generally require having the servers or computers, which manage the content to be displayed on the students' computers, to be physically located within the same room, within the same school, or at least within the same Local Area Network (LAN).
Many of the schools in developing countries have limited resources in terms of computers and/or IT services. They sometimes are not even provided with one computer within the school, and thus it can be difficult to transpose existing “smart classroom” learning tools in schools in these countries.
There is thus a need for a system and/or process which would allow students enrolled in schools with little or no access to technological tools to benefit from the advantages of “smart classrooms”. It would also be desirable for such a system to be deployed without requiring expensive servers and/or PC's physically located in the schools. It would also be desirable for teachers to be able to create and manage learning content easily, and to be able to control this content when displayed to their students.
Known to the Applicant are U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,240 (WACKYM); U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,818 (SHAPIRO et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,472 (SHAPIRO); U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,796 B1 (REMSCHEL); U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,260 B2 (BETZ et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 8,358,963 B2 (ARGOTT); and United States Patent Applications published under Nos.: 2004/0191744 A1 (GUIRGUIS); 2006/0147891 A1 (DREYFOUS et al.); 2010/0267000 A1 (CROUCH); 2012/0231434 A1 (STANDAGE); as well as Japanese Patent Applications published under Nos.: 2007052148 A (NOMOTO) and 2012127989 A (HAYASHI et al.). However, these documents suffer from drawbacks as will be better understood in light of the foregoing description.
Hence, there is a need for an improved system which, by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome some of the above-discussed prior art concerns.